A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Relationship among Adolescents' Perceived Social Support, Psychological State and Future Expectations among Turkish Students

Abstract

Introduction: Due to social and emotional changes alongside the cognitive and logical changes in adolescence, alterations occur in the adolescent's communication with family and friends in this period, and social support assumes greater importance. Methods: From each of the two middle and high schools in the Ilkadim district of Samsun, a total 688 students were employed by a two-stage sampling method in this cross-sectional study. The data were collected from sociodemographic information, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and Future Expectations Scale for Adolescents (FESA) questionnaires distributed under the supervision of guidance counselors in these schools between December 2014 and February 2015. The Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman's Rank Correlation were used for statistical analysis. The significance level was accepted as p<0.05 for all tests. Results: In the study group, MSPSS Family subscale had a stronger correlational relationship with all the BSI subscales including global indices and also with total score of FESA and subscales with the exception of the Marriage and Family subscale than the other two MSPSS subscales. There were moderate negative correlation between scores of MSPSS and BSI, and a low-moderate positive correlation was observed between total MSPSS and FESA scores of adolescents. The results demonstrated that adolescents who exercise regularly and avoid smoking and alcohol have higher perceptions of social support. Conclusion: Perceived social support from family may be more effective than perceived social support from friends or a significant other in the development of psychological well-being and positive future expectations of Turkish adolescents.